Great success was achieved by our juvenile members at the Connacht Uneven Ages Cross Country in Roscommon on Sunday. Well done to Emma Brennan who ran a fantastic race to win the Under-15 Connacht title with a strong front-running performance over 3500m. Emma has shown great form on both the country and track this year and continues to excel. Sunday’s event was a qualifier for next month’s All-Irelands in Co. Cork when Emma can look forward to producing another strong run. Rachel Keenan and Robin Og Murphy both ran strongly also in the U15 race pacing it well on the mostly firm racecourse track.
Emma on her way to winning the Connacht Under-15 girls cross-country title
Brilliant team success came in the first race of the day when the U11 girls team topped the standings following their 1500m race. Jessica Neary produced another top-10 finish in an impressive 8th place. Holly Brady (17th), Zoe Mulligan (22nd) and Hollie Smith (24th) together gave a Longford score of 71 points to secure gold. Also running very well were Julie Taitt, Georgia Brady and Grace Masterson for a superb overall team performance in advancing to the finals in Cork.
Andrew Fitzpatrick, running in an age category one year up, had a tremendous run to achieve Nationals qualification in the U11 boys 1500m by placing 7th of the 108 finishers. Andrew was soon followed by Adam Mulleady running really well for 22nd. Sophia Carey continued her good form with an excellent 4th place in the U13 girls 2500m well inside the automatic qualifier spots. Darcey Brady, Alisha Manning, Sinead Masterson and Sarah Taitt all ran very good races too and, while the group narrowly missed out on bronze medals by just two points, the 4th place in the standings does earn All-Irelands team qualification.
Seven boys from the club lined up in the U13 2500m and combined to produce Longford’s second team medal success of the day. The boys packed well with Timothy Sheridan, Odhran Crossan, Daniel Higgins and Oisín Dillon’s finish placings giving a total score of 102 points to achieve bronze medals for third place in the standings. The quartet were soon followed by Eoin Grehan, John Fitzpatrick and Eamon McGinnity in an all-around very good team showing in earning Nationals qualification.
